


Therapeutic Snippet

by Kat Morgan (Wren_K)



Category: The Magnificent Seven (TV)
Genre: Angst, Early Work, Gen, Off screen and not a named character - but please proceed with caution, Suicide
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-09
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-19 22:02:04
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 618
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4762634
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wren_K/pseuds/Kat%20Morgan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>JD in the wake of a tough case.</p><p>***Discussion of off-screen suicide***</p>
            </blockquote>





	Therapeutic Snippet

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this as pure therapy several years ago after a bad call at work. I had no intention of ever sharing it publicly, but time has tempered my reaction to the event and this snippet. I suppose I should also warn you that it doesn't so much end as just fade to black.
> 
> My loving and grateful thanks to my ladies of chat, who sat with me when this one was fresh and painful.
> 
> Please, please, please pay attention to the tags.
> 
> 7/2006

JD didn't look up when he sensed a presence behind him. He'd made his thoughts on the subject of company abundantly clear. Whichever one of them was hovering in the doorway, they could just stand there until they took root for all he cared.

Hours that may have been minutes crept by under the concerned gaze that bore a hole between JD's shoulder blades. He rolled his shoulders, trying to summon the words that would convince his visitor to just go. The last thing JD wanted was to turn and face anyone, let alone his friends. Sympathy would shatter him.

"Hello, John Dunne," Josiah broke the silence with a neutral greeting. There was sadness in his voice.

"Josiah," JD acknowledged the profiler when it became apparent he didn't intend to leave anytime soon. His eyes never left the horizon.

Taking invitation where it hadn't been offered, Josiah stepped over the low concrete bench and sat down. He seemed content to just sit and contemplate the view. When he spoke at last, JD barely caught the soft words.

"Thinking about Reynolds." 

JD couldn't tell if Josiah was asking or telling. Not that it mattered, he wasn't likely to be thinking about anything else. Hot tears pricked and JD rolled his eyes upward in an attempt to keep them from spilling. 

"Each man chooses his own path, son. You did what you could." Josiah's tone held none of pity or condemnation JD feared; just the same weary sadness he'd greeted him with.

JD swallowed hard around the lump in his throat. "It wasn't enough though," his words were rough with tears and failure. "I couldn't stop him."

"Reynolds went to that park to die, JD." Josiah's hand settled on JD's shoulder, offering what comfort the younger agent was willing to accept. "Nothing you did could change that."

"*You* could have talked him down," JD answered, still unable to look at his friend.

Josiah shrugged, JD could feel the gesture through the warm touch on his back. "Maybe," he said. "But I've had more training than you. And maybe I couldn't have. Maybe Reynolds would have decided to set off the bomb instead of using the gun. 'Maybe' isn't a game you're likely to win, son."

JD hunched forward, hugged his knees. He rested his head on his folded arms, uncertain if he was going to start heaving or sobbing. "It wasn't fast," he admitted, eyes squeezed shut against the memory. "Always thought if someone shot themselves like that, it would be fast. Bu... bu... b-but it wasn't." The first sob overtook him. 

He didn't even know Josiah had moved until he was kneeling in front of JD, enveloping him in a huge hug. JD buried his face in Josiah's neck and began sobbing in earnest. There was no pretense left in him, no detached ATF 'special agent' attitude. Just a traumatized kid who'd seen more than he ever should have. 

"I can still hear him," JD whispered, running both hands through his dark hair. His fingers curled protectively over his ears. "I think he tried to scream." A shudder rippled through him. "He just...gurgled."

JD pulled away from the embrace to look Josiah in the eye. "I thought I was getting through to him," he confessed. "When he let me send the hostages away... I thought he was listening to me." 

"He did listen to you." Josiah cuffed the side of JD's head lightly, a gesture of affection and approval. "He let those people go, because you told him to. He let them live because you made him remember the decent person he used to be beneath all the pain. Don't shoulder Reynolds's demons, JD. They're not your burden."


End file.
